First to testify was Mohamed Houli Chemlal, who was in an explosion that reduced to rubble a house in Alcanar, south of Barcelona, the night before the Las Ramblas attack in Barcelona.

He was wearing hospital pyjamas for his court appearance as he is still being treated for his injuries.

Two other suspects were killed in the blast, including Abdelbaki Es Satty, the Moroccan imam thought to have been a radicalising influence on the suspects.

Police later found a cache of 120 gas canisters at the scene but the blast is thought to have prompted the attackers to change the nature of the attack.

The other suspects in court are:

28-year-old Driss Oukabir: he has already protested his innocence. His passport was found in the van which ran amok in the Las Ramblas boulevard in Barcelona, but he says his brother Moussa – who was killed in the attack in Cambrils – had stolen his documents